LOUISVILLE, Ky.—You’ve heard the plot before: under-the-radar team makes good on the national stage. Every year, the story line is rolled out around NCAA Tournament time and every year we eat it up like Easter dinner.

Last season, Louisville played the role of underdog and did it well en route to a 30-10 season. The difference in the Cardinals' story is that there will be an encore with many of the same players.

No one saw Louisville coming in the weeks preceding the NCAA Tournament. The talk was all about Missouri and Michigan State, yet the Cardinals used the momentum of a Big East championship run to sneak into a matchup with Kentucky and make Rick Pitino the only coach to take three programs to the Final Four.

Look up anything related to college basketball today and you’ll see that it is hard for those same Cardinals to hide. Senior point guard Peyton Siva is one of the more recognized faces in the country, and he leads a team that only lost seniors Chris Smith and Kyle Kuric. Add George Mason transfer Luke Hancock, freshman Montrezl Harrell and a healthy Wayne Blackshear to that group and you have a team.

The next step for these Cardinals, who are No. 2 in Sporting News’ preseason rankings, is to perform with the lights shining brightly on them. They return experience and have added talent, but Pitino expects this season to be more of a grind.

“Unlike last year, we don’t have a lot of home games in the beginning,” Pitino said. “We’re going to be tested right away from the opening game. We’re going to be tested right away with road games with Charleston and Memphis, with The Battle (4) Atlantis (a tough holiday tournament in the Bahamas) ... We’ve got to be ready early.”

In Louisville’s intrasquad game at the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday, it was clear the Cardinals are most prepared on the front line and at point guard.

Last year, Siva used his pass-first approach to lead Louisville to eight straight wins before running into Kentucky in the Final Four, a meeting that ended in a 69-61 loss to the eventual NCAA champion. Siva returns with a bigger, more seasoned team.

“I told them, if we ever get outrebounded then we’re going to have to fight, because they should never get outrebounded by anybody,” Siva said. “I think we have the best bigs in the nation, no offense to anybody else.”

Siva will be charged with distributing the ball to his many weapons. There are the usuals; Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan remain the team's best players in the paint, and Russ Smith is still a livewire.

“I call Russ ’Russdiculous,’ ” Pitino said. “Tonight, he was ridiculous. I don’t know what he was doing out there.”

Smith’s unpredictable play will make the addition of Hancock that more important. He is a 6-6 spot-up shooter who also can be counted to show up in big moments and relieve Siva as a ballhandler. Pitino, for one, is thankful to have him.

“We need him to play backup point,” Pitino said of Hancock. “He’ll play that because he understands the game and he sees the game well. We can’t have Russ play the point. Either that or I’m going to die.”

Even more impressive than Pitino’s wit was his nugget about a conversation he had with former George Mason coach Jim Larranaga, now the coach at Miami (Fla.). Pitino was heavy on praise as he discussed Hancock’s ability to strengthen the Cardinals, but he had nothing on Larranaga.

“When I called Jim Larranaga and asked what we had in this kid, he said, ‘Well, with five seconds to go in the game, if you have to get the ball inbounds against the press, have him inbound it,'” Pitino said. “'If you need somebody to take the shot, have him take the shot. If you need somebody to make the play, have him make the play. If you need a steal or a rebound, he’ll make it.' He’s a big-time gamer, is what he said.”

Louisville has quite a few gamers on its side. Little stock should be put in scrimmages, but Behanan had 24 points and 22 rebounds, 10 of them offensive. The crowd recognized his hustle with a standing ovation in the second half.

Harrell was nearly Behanan’s equal. Not only is he a big-time talent who contributed to Team USA’s U-18 squad, he also displayed a desire to come up with 50-50 plays. He lunged over a group of photographers for a loose ball and took a charge—and this was only a scrimmage.

Even with all the talent around him, the onus is on Siva to make it all work. Pitino pointed out that the Red team, which defeated the White team 74-58 in Saturday's scrimmage, looked good because Siva looked good, calling him “a professional.” In order to win under increased pressure and keep everyone happy, he’ll have to be just that.

To his credit, Siva considers that a good problem for Louisville and a bad problem for its opponents.

“I think it’ll just be a lot easier with guys who can create,” Siva said. “I think that we have a lot of weapons that we can go to and that’ll just make it easier.”